Neighbors on Tour 2/2

Wrapping up the Sunset Heights Tour of Homes, and my usual garden diversion. But can you blame me? Anyone should know the first thing one sees is a garden, an afterthought, or none at all.

Photos from the warm mid-80s on 10/5/2014 –

symmetrical pots, none the same, leading to the dooryuccas in and out…just lose the matyellow and red leaf variegation on thie yucca – a surprise to me

Over a decade before I ever considered moving to El Paso, a certain humility was obvious in how many people act towards others and their town. Also evident was a gentle hand of restraint in how I make a living: the landscape.

Not that horticulture is important or even trendy as a rule here, but where present there’s more panache than much of where I moved from. Only the thirsty was garish; the rest humble.

back to the home tour…great wall color choicenice library, though the entire wall should be bookcase :-)

(more cypresses, lantanas and plumbagos, anyone?)

but forget the inside building part…Bonita Arizona and Bella Italia meet, Cupressus, that is

While my part of town is in the direct path of UTEP, its mix of decay with a touch of sophistication is so interesting. Fortunately, new parts of town and trendy neighborhoods to my north keep attention away, so it remains more grounded and affordable.

I need to use this one in my designs. I first drove by a mass of that privet, but it looked like a form of some old-flowering-shrub seen more in older areas – Abelia, and so on. I never got close enough until this one.

Most of the privets I recall in Albuquerque were the evergreen Texas or Glossy Privet / Ligustrum japonicum, usually in too-tight a location, often killed by their 20-ish year deep freeze. Not so many here, where they are more long-term, winter-hardy. And some were called California Privet / L. ovafolium or Common Privet / L. vulgare, mostly semi-evergreen both places, until north in z 6 and colder.

Like this:

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3 Replies to “Neighbors on Tour 2/2”

This is a great tour, D, but I had to laugh at your “lose the mat” comment. Perhaps if you were the one keeping the floors at that home you’d feel differently? I know I”m a not a big fan of how the mats look, but I’d rather turn a blind eye to mats at my house in deference to the dirt and litter trapped before it gets inside.

And, slightly off topic – Every time I see mistflower there are butterflies in the shot. With all the recent hooraw about tropical milkweed, which will either save or function to further decimate monarch populations depending on the day’s reports, I am not only going to work hard to germinate native milkweed seed but I am going to clear a couple of spots for mistflower. Obviously it is Butterfly Approved!

You may be right. I was once told to “lose the screens” on my old place’s windows…not many insects, but the ones I had could be freaky and I liked my windows open as long as it wasn’t too warm or cold. I had 2 mats but the sun turned them to dust in months, so I just swept my tile entry more. I hear you on the daily thoughts on certain plants for butterflies…who to believe? No matter, Mistflower is always the Sonic Drive-in for butterflies!

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Nikon Coolpix S3700 handheld camera or iPhone 7, and rarely a print (remember those?) using the scan function on my HP Officejet 7612. I do minimal or no processing, treat light and shadow as my friends, because I’m in the desert I often shoot into the sun even midday with no regrets, but I first capture the big picture.